Gina et al
 Neither of mine had dummies but deffo facial structure comes into it.  In 
my sample of 2,  my son  [child no 1]  takes after me with a round face and 
has plenty of room for all his teeth.  My daughter [ longest nursed] takes 
after her father and his  long narrow face,  she had to have  one tooth out 
through lack of room and braces to straighten things up.  Her father who was 
b/f for  a couple of months had to  have 4 teeth out and braces to make them 
all fit in there and straighten up,  and her cousin who had no breastfeeding 
had to have  8 teeth out  to make room [and braces]  I can't imagine having 
8 teeth that don't fit!
Murphy's law comes into   this too.  My father in law and various members of 
his family,  including another grandchild , are missing a couple of adult 
teeth on the upper jaw,  they  just don't show up,  so the baby tooth 
doesn't fall out as it should [but it eventually decays as it's only meant 
to last a few years].  Guess which child inherited this feature -  my son 
who has plenty of room,  had my daughter had this it  might  have been much 
easier for her.
While I  was not happy that she ended up   seeing an orthodontist,  I try 
and remind myself that had she not been breastfed it  could have been a 
whole lot worse.

Helen Butler
England

> Hello Sam and all,
> My kids also have perfect teeth, thank goodness and I really do believe it
> was lack of pacifiers and breastfeeding that played a crucial part. Also
> anecdotal. Wondering how many of our bf kids needed braces.
> Hmmm. That could be an interesting study along with paci use.
>
> In my sample size of three, it looks like one will need braces. He is the
one who has his father's facial structure, and my husband had braces as a
child (twice). I didn't, and the two who look like me don't look like
they're going to need braces either (though the youngest is 6 so I might be
jumping to conclusions). Coincidentally the one needing braces nursed the
longest, the the oldest who definitely does not need braces nursed the
shortest. Also, the one needing braces had horrid issues with early
childhood caries, so he's just been a dental nightmare all around. ;)

Gina
-- 


IN my sample of 3 breastfed babies who never had a dummy (pacifier)
one has braces, and the second looks like he may need them.  The third
is too young yet.  OK, the first needs them because she had molars
removed early and the other teeth are growing crooked because of it,
but hte second looks like having an overbite.  Remains to be seen what
bottle fed bub number 4 will do, but he hasn't had a dummy since 3
months old.

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome